Iran dealPro-deal filibuster to prevent Senate vote on Iran agreement

President Barack Obama has won a second major victory on the Iran nuclear deal in as many weeks: Last week Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-Maryland) became the 34th senator to announce her support for the deal, thus allowing the president to sustain the veto he would have issued after the Republican majority in the Senate would have voted to disapprove the nuclear deal with Iran. On Tuesday, Obama won a second, even bigger victory: There will be no vote on the deal on the floor of the Senate. The reason: Three Senate Democrats — Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, Gary Peters of Michigan, and Ron Wyden of Oregon — said earlier Tuesday they will support the deal. Thirty-eight members of the Democratic caucus have already announced their support for the deal. Sixty senators are needed to vote for cloture, that is, an end to debate, so a motion can be brought the floor for a vote. With forty-one Democrats now supporting the deal, the Republican critics of the deal cannot end the debate to force an up-or-down vote on the floor on a resolution of disapproval.

President Barack Obama has won a second major victory on the Iran nuclear deal in as many weeks: Last week Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-Maryland) became the 34th senator to announce her support for the deal, thus allowing the president to sustain the veto he would have issued after the Republican majority in the Senate would have voted to disapprove the nuclear deal the P5+1 power have reached with Iran.

On Tuesday, Obama won a second, even bigger victory: There will be no vote on the deal on the floor of the Senate.

The reason: Three Senate Democrats — Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, Gary Peters of Michigan, and Ron Wyden of Oregon — said earlier Tuesday they will support the deal. Thirty-eight members of the Democratic caucus have already announced their support for the deal.

Sixty senators are needed to vote for cloture, that is, an end to debate, so a motion can be brought the floor for a vote. With forty-one Democrats now supporting the deal, the Republican critics of the deal cannot end the debate to force an up-or-down vote on the floor on a resolution of disapproval.

The only way a vote on the Iran deal can now take place is if at least one senator who supports the Iran deal would agree to vote for cloture so the Senate can take a vote.

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada) said Tuesday he will insist that sixty Senate votes are required to pass a resolution of disapproval.

“Democrats have already agreed to forgo our opportunity to filibuster, and I’ve offered Leader McConnell the chance to go straight to a vote on passage of the resolution,” he said during a speech before the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington. “But of course, as he has noted many times in the past, everything of importance in the Senate requires sixty votes. So passage will require sixty votes,” he said

“There is no precedent in recent history for an issue of this magnitude getting consideration in the Senate without having to secure sixty votes,” Reid said. “This is not about how any one leader manages the floor – this is a precedent stretching back decades.”

Asked whether he had a gut feeling on whether he could count on the forty-one votes to block a resolution of disapproval, Reid said, “I don’t have a gut feeling.”

“I believe the proposed agreement, using diplomacy, not military force, is the best path now available to prevent a nuclear-armed Iran,” Blumenthal said in a statement.

Peters said in a statement, “Despite my serious reservations, I will reluctantly vote against a motion of disapproval because I believe that doing so will protect the credibility of the United States to hold Iran accountable to adhere to every single obligation” in the agreement.

Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia said he would oppose the agreement. “I do not believe that supporting this deal will prevent Iran from eventually acquiring a nuclear weapon or continuing to be a leading sponsor of terrorism against Americans and our allies around the world,” Manchin said.

“This vote will hardly be the end of the Senate’s consideration of Iranian malfeasance and responding to the ongoing threats posed by Iran’s leaders will require people to move on after this debate and come together again with common purpose,” said Wyden. “With that in mind, I will vote to support the agreement.”

The Washington Postreports that the forty-one votes — seven more than needed to uphold his veto of any measure of disapproval passed by Congress — offer tamper-proof protection of the Iran deal.

There are two senators who are yet to make their decision on the deal public: Maria Cantwell (D-Washington) and Susan Collins (R-Maine).

The Senate was scheduled to begin the debate on the deal Tuesday, although this debate is now academic. The House is set to start debating the deal Wednesday.

Votes in both chambers must be held by the 17 September deadline.

As is the case in the Senate, the Republican majority in the House has enough votes to pass a resolution of disapproval. To pass such a resolution, 218 votes are needed in the 435-seat chamber. At least 230 Republicans and fifteen Democrats are opposed to the deal. At least 105 House Democrats support the agreement, with the rest yet to announce their views.